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The struggle against white skin privilege and white supremacy is key.
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"You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future.”
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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Protests Inside Israel Against the Gaza Siege

Israeli Jews and Palestinians have been protesting all week inside Israel against the brutal siege of Gaza. There is plenty more to come.

As part of the events marking the first anniversary to Israel's brutal attack on Gaza, a small demonstration was held Tuesday in Be'er-Sheva, near the Ben-Gurion University. The demonstration called for the end of Israel's occupation and the prolonged siege on Gaza and held some 20 Palestinian and Jewish participants.About 30 minutes before the time scheduled for the demonstration, early comers were shocked to see that vast numbers of police forces where already setting up near the university gates. There were 4 large 'Transits', 2 of them riot police, 2-3 regular police cars and about 20 police officers and 15 border policemen. The chief of police on the scene informed protestors that the vigil was illegal (which was of course untrue) and that he was already authorized to disperse the event and make arrests. Eventually demonstrators managed to carry their protest – with the police promising that next time they will surely arrest anyone demonstrating.

Be'er Sheva police

Meanwhile, both the Jerusalem (Hebrew) University and the Haifa University have canceled the permit given to students to hold memorial and protest events within university grounds, commemorating the attack on Gaza one year ago. These attacks on voices of dissent are in their own right a reminder of the days of the Gaza war, when 800 Israeli (mainly Palestinian) were arrested for demonstrating against the brutal attack.

Jaffa demonstration, 26.12.09

Earlier this week, launching the one week long international campaign against the siege on Gaza, on the occasion of the first anniversary to Israel's war on Gaza, 500 Palestinian and Jewish demonstrators marched the streets of Jaffa Saturday night. Demonstrators were calling to end the siege on Gaza and the occupation as a whole, linked the local struggle of Palestinians inside Israel against policies of ethnic cleansing to the broader Palestinian struggle, and called for the prosecution of Israeli war criminals.The demonstration ended with a remembrance rally near a local mosque.

Beach action, 27.12.09

On the very next morning, Sunday, 25 Israeli activists tried to directly breech the siege by marching south towards the Gaza Strip on the Israeli beach of Zikim. As the activists were getting closer to an army barrier they were stopped by soldiers and police. A high ranking officer present told the demonstrators that he could not promise that he and his men will avoid opening fire at them if they proceed.Challenging the legality of the siege, activists tried to cross the line of soldiers, and some even got into the sea, trying to swim around the barrier. The activists were soon stopped by the police, using motored water vessels and horses. 16 were arrested in suspicion of violating a military order, later to be released at the Sderot police station, but barred from returning to the area near Gaza for two weeks.

Trying to break the sea-ge

All the coming week's activities will be updated to this post as they happen.